For James Bond, a watch does far more than tell the time. It can kill your enemies with a single shot, fire wires into the air so you can swing between buildings, and even undo the zip on your sultry opponent’s dress.

In the real world, expensive timepieces have long been handed out to spies, undercover SAS troops and female intelligence operatives working at British embassies abroad so they could more easily pass themselves off as well-heeled diplomats.

But now these luxury watches – and an extraordinary array of thousands of other items from clothing to ships and aircraft – are being sold off at knockdown prices as the Ministry of Defence tries to fill a £36 billion hole in its budget.

Stylish: James Bond actor Daniel Craig promoting an Omega watch

The ‘unused as new’ watches do not carry an asking price on the defence agency website on which they are advertised. But with other items in the ‘sale’ on offer for a tenth of their original price, it is thought that the watches will fetch only a fraction of their true value.

For comparison, when Daniel Craig reprised his role as James Bond in Quantum Of Solace, he was wearing an OMEGA Seamaster Planet Ocean 600m Co-Axial Chronometer with a black dial. Its price new is £4,275.

A source said: ‘These watches were bought for SAS and defence intelligence operatives who work at our embassies abroad, so they look the part when they go to events and parties attended by diplomats and local dignitaries. It’s all part of creating the right image.’

Among the other items on the MoD’s Defence Equipment & Sales website are brand new combat jackets ordered for the SAS (£350 new, on sale for £30); boxes of pencils, knives and forks; a £6,000 fridge on sale for £920; ships’ mattresses; and even a portable dentist’s chair.

The goods are being sold in addition to
scores of warships, aircraft and military vehicles that were put up for
sale or scrapped under cuts announced in last year’s Strategic Defence
and Security Review.

Timeless: A Lacroix watch up for sale

But now the MoD is trying to raise even more money by offering everything from Army braces, bush hats, foot warmers and Scottish regimental kilts to trainers, socks, a Guards peaked cap and a host of office and medical equipment.

A source said: ‘The MoD is so desperate to balance the books that they’re selling everything imaginable.’

Conservative MP Patrick Mercer, a former infantry commander, said last night: ‘The one thing of which you can be certain is that once precious defence equipment is sold, it will be needed again within the week. It is like selling the family silver. These goods have cost us millions and now they are being sold for peanuts. That cannot be right.’

By the time the sales of aircraft, ships, military bases and tanks are added, the sale could bring in around £4 billion – still leaving the MoD well short of its savings target, despite cutting thousands of military and civilian jobs. In a separate venture to generate revenue, the MoD has catalogued its extensive art collection, which includes famous oils of Nelson – and is selling prints at £18 a time online.

Senior military officers are said to be furious at the sell-offs, which they claim are giving away quality equipment while the forces need everything they can get.

Among the hardware on sale is the carrier HMS Ark Royal, which originally cost £200 million and is being sold in an eBay-style auction, with the latest top offer of £3.5 million.

Aircraft for sale include 14 Gazelle helicopters expected to raise £100,000 – the original cost was £5 million.

For the more technically minded, the MoD is offering a helicopter cockpit simulator or a 100ft-wide girder bridge used by the Royal Engineers.

An MoD spokesman said: ‘We are committed to delivering the best possible return for the taxpayer when disposing of surplus equipment.

‘Last year alone the Disposal Services Authority (part of Defence Equipment and Support) secured £84 million from sales.’